Why invest in US shares?

Please check out our blog article here.

Type of accounts supported

For now we only support onboarding Individual, Joint and Minor for US trading, with supporting other types of account being our priority in the coming months.

Fractional Investing

US shares will be in fractionals, you will be able to buy/sell in fractional units. An example would be if AAPL is $130 per unit, you can buy 0.1 unit for $13.

Brokerage Cost

Brokerage cost is AU$6.50. This is always deducted from you Primary Cash (AU) account in AUD.

Limit Order

Limit order feature is not available on US holding Trade currently.

W8-BEN tax form

The W8-BEN tax form is filled and filed on your behalf by our brokerage partner when you open a US investment account with us! No further action needs to be taken.

Are the stocks held under my name? or Pearler?

Its actually held under our brokerage partner in your name. Here is a snippet of the legals from our brokerage partner (DriveWealth) :

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DriveWealth custodies Securities and Other Assets held in your Account at approved Depository Trust Company Custodians (“DTC Custodians”). DriveWealth holds all positions in nominee name with the DTC Custodians; DriveWealth maintains all records related to the holdings in your Account.

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Insurance

Our brokerage partner (DriveWealth) is a US broker-dealer registered with FINRA (US regulator) and is a member of SIPC.

If Pearler fails, you would still have access to all your cash and securities. Drivewealth will establish contact with you on how to proceed.

If Drivewealth fails, the SIPC gets involved and appoints a trustee to manage the liquidation of the firm and protect customers cash and securities up to $500,000. ($250,000 for claims for cash).

Share Registry

Since the shares are held custodially by our US brokerage partner, you won't receive any emails from the relevant share registry.

Dividends

You will receive any dividend of a share in proportion to your holding (accounts for fractional units) and it will go into your Primary Cash (USD) on Pearler.

How does Pearler handle AUD <-> USD conversion? What are the fees?

Check out this article for an in-depth explanation.

What happens to my USD when I sell shares?

Your USD will remain in Primary Cash (USD) where you can use to buy other US shares, if you want it back as AUD in Primary Cash (AUD), you will have to make a USD -> AUD transfer which will take 2 business days.

Autoinvest US shares

You can now autoinvest into US shares just like you would with AU shares. We charge the same fee for AUD to USD conversion as if you manually transfer yourself.

Can I transfer US shares to Pearler?

Yes you can, please check out this article for more information.

Upcoming features

Onboarding more account types (only Individual/Joint/Minor for now)